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One never dismisses three league points away from home, but those the Stormers left Belfast with will be bittersweet. They scored five tries and conceded six in a 38-all draw in Round 17 of the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The three Stormers league points were sweet because they consolidated their top two league position, with one round to go.
Sweet because three points is better than one but bitter because a bonus point win — and five league points — would have perched the Stormers at the top of the table and made them masters of their own destiny in their pursuit to finish the league season in first place.
The relevance of the league standings is home ground advantage, and while this does not translate to a commercial bonanza, it certainly gives the home team an on-field advantage.
The Stormers can still finish second in the league, but the congestion in the top six is so tight that if the Stormers leave Cardiff next weekend without a league point in their final match and other results go against them, then they could finish the season in fifth place.
The tournament’s suites will be thrilled that their league is so hotly contested that everything comes down to the final 80 minutes of round 18 to determine the final eight places.
Draw disappointing
From a Stormers perspective, the 38-all draw was disappointing, given Ulster had a player down for 20 minutes in the first half when the Stormers led 17-7.
The Stormers’ fight to snatch a draw via a penalty try in the final minute characterises a team that never stops playing. However, Friday night’s match was also defined by ill-discipline, conceding soft penalties and too much inconsistency in both attack and defence.
The Stormers, as they have done all season, created many 22-metre attacking entries but spilled the ball, were impatient in converting this prime field position into points, and suffered because of poor discipline off the ball.
Two potential tries were blown a metre from Ulster’s tryline because of ill-discipline. Individuals let themselves and the team down in crucial moments through ill-judgment, a refusal to listen to the referee’s constant cautions, and a disregard for discipline.
Some of the ill-discipline was a combination of silly and reckless.
Their [Stormers’] 38-all draw is their best result against Ulster in Belfast in three visits, and if one’s glass is half full, then it is a case of job done.
The lack of on-field maturity in some instances was a body blow to the coaching staff.
Defensively, the Stormers were caught out on the flanks as Ulster punished their failure to maintain width. A lack of focus and ill-discipline resulted in soft penalties to Ulster and easy entries into the Stormers 22.
Sacha’s exceptional talent
The positives were the Stormers’ scrum and lineout and the exceptional talent of flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who scored 21 points and was a wizard on attack and a demon in defence.
The Stormers, whose season started with eight successive league wins, have never won more than 12 league matches in a season, so a win in Cardiff would be a Stormers league record.
In the league’s inaugural 2021/22 season, the Stormers finished second with 12 wins and 61 league points. In the 2022/23 season they finished third with 12 wins and 68 points (courtesy of a whopping 16 bonus points and two draws).
In the 2023/24 season it was a fifth-place finish, with 12 wins and 59 points, and in 2024/25 it was a fifth-place finish with 10 wins and 55 points.
This season already represents a statistical improvement from a year ago in wins and league points, but the Stormers remain unconvincing when dropping league points they should have banked.
Their 38-all draw is their best result against Ulster in Belfast in three visits, and if one’s glass is half full, then it is a case of job done. If it is half empty, then it is two league points lost and not three league points gained out of a possible five.
What is so frustrating about the Stormers is the contradiction: they conjure up miracle plays with ease, yet counterbalance those awe-inspiring moments with mad and muddled decision-making.
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